25 of the most buzzworthy new shows for Fall 2018

Charmed

What you’re watching: For some of us, this is going to be a hard pill to swallow. Rebooting a past favorite, especially such an iconic one with a loyal fanbase is tricky. However, this CW retooling features a more diverse set of Halliwell sisters, except they aren’t Halliwells at all anymore.

Madeleine Mantock plays the eldest sister Macy Vaughn, and her personality and powers are most closely related to Prue’s (played by Shannen Doherty), even though she is a half-sister like Paige, played later in the series by Rose McGowan. Melonie Diaz plays Mel Vera, the middle sister, graduate student, and lesbian. She also has the power of time freezing, like Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs). The youngest sister, Maggie Vera, is played by Sarah Jeffrey and has telepathic powers like her predecessor Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano).

What it reminds you of: Hopefully, it will remind you enough of the original series to grab audiences of a certain age, curious to see it revamped. However, early trailers reveal it has a more Vampire Diaries look and feel to it. It’s a little darker than the original, and will definitely carry the CW’s trademark style – lots of abs, cheekbones, and love triangles, mixed in with a lot of far-fetched supernatural action.

Long-term potential: I hate to be a cynic about it, but I don’t see this show going the distance. Old fans will constantly be comparing it to the original, and new fans might not be familiar enough with the original magic (if you’ll pardon the expression). It’s hard to beat the chemistry, wit, and feminism of the long-running first run, and this series has big shoes to fill.